In a hush-hush hearing Tuesday in which international media weren't allowed in, the sixth and "junior" wife of the ruler of Dubai who reportedly fled the United Arab Emirates with her two young children in fear for her life has applied for a forced-marriage protection order. The PA Media news agency reports Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, 45, not only put in for that decree—which CNN notes can either be used to prevent a forced marriage or offer assistance to someone in a forced marriage—but also for a non-molestation order for herself, as well as a request for wardship of her two kids with 70-year-old Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, who's also the UAE's vice president and prime minister. Princess Haya reportedly first fled to Germany months ago from the UAE, then landed in the UK, where it's believed she'll want to stay.
Princess Haya is said to have ditched her husband after learning "disturbing facts" about the return of Sheikha Latifa, an adult daughter of the sheikh by another wife, per the BBC. Latifa's sister Shama also tried to leave the UAE, in 2000; she was brought back, though it's not clear what her current status is. Even though a joint statement earlier this month from Princess Haya and the sheikh noted the hearing was on "the welfare of the two children of their marriage and [did] not concern divorce or finances," it's widely believed she's seeking to leave him for good. After Princess Haya, the daughter of Jordan's late King Hussein, got out of the UAE, the sheikh is said to have uploaded an "angry poem accusing an unnamed woman of betrayal and treachery," the BBC notes. He has asked for his kids back, and for proceedings to be kept even quieter than they were, but the court nixed that second ask. (More Dubai stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
